Of the Frailty of Human Life. 277 teach us the knowledge of our own littleness; we seem to be lost in this innumerable multitude of the creatures of God, which would amply suffice to declare his power, though the whole human race were swept into annihilation. How immense is the empire of nature! in every element are beings created and preserved; every grain of sand is an habitation for insects which rank amongst the creatures of God, and are links in the vast catenation of created nature. The more we meditate upon the grandeur and diversity of the works of God, the more we feel the limits of our understanding, and our ideas are confused by infinitude. Though we add number upon number we shall never be able to find a sum equal to the amount of all the creatures which inhabit the earth. Let us then in silent reverence adore the wisdom of the im measurable God. MAY XXIV. Spring an Emblem of the Frailty of Human Life, and an Image of Death. Ar this season we need not search far for images of frailty and death; they every where present themselves connected with the beauties of nature. The design of the Creator in this seems to be, to warn us of the in constancy of terrestrial things, and to check that dan gerous inclination which we have to place our affec tions upon objects which being vain and transitory should be repressed. Spring is the season in which plants receive a new life, and in which many of them perish. However serene are the days of spring they often suddenly become darkened by clouds, by showers, and by tempests. Sometimes the morning dawns in the fulness of beauty; when, ere the sun has gained the mid-heaven, the lustre which flattered our hopes of a fine day vanishes from our view; at other times our most favourable hopes are realized, and we enjoy all the attractions of spring in full perfection. But how fugitive are these happy days, and how precipitate their flight! Whilst we are eagerly courting their presence, they vanish from our grasp; and thus fly the fairest hours of life, even as fleeting moments of spring. The morning often meets us with smiles, and promises us nothing but joy and happiness; but ere the evening comes, even before we have attained the noon, we experience the desolation of misfortune, and the bitterness of grief; woe marks our course, and affliction follows our steps. Let us pause for a space, and consider the years of our youth, which we may regard as the spring of our life; how fleeting were the pleasures of our then tender age! Many and various as they were, perhaps none of them now remain. Where are fled those happy moments when, strangers to care, we gave ourselves up to the intoxicating influence of joy, and the enthu. siastic rapture of unrestrained imagination? Where is now that gaiety of heart that was wont to sparkle in the countenance and cheer the admiring beholder? And where those roses which once bloomed in our cheeks? We now no longer feel the turbulence of pleasure, the enthusiasm of ardour, nor the rapturous fervour of delight, which were wont to fire our senses and intoxicate our souls. We remember those happy days no more, but as the illusion of a dream, or as some pleasing phantasy that plays upon the imagina. tion, and suddenly leaves us in all the consciousness of a weary existence. But it is not so with those who in their morning of life looked forward to the time when to learn is painful, and again to grow young impracticable; who, instead of expending the ardour of youth in the pursuit of tasteless frivolity or hopeless Of the Frailty of Human Life. 279 dissipation, gathered with unceasing toil and unwearied assiduity the rich stores of wisdom, the enjoyment of which will ensure to them a measure of felicity, whilst the mere butterflies that flutter in the sun-beams are buried in the gloom of oblivion. All those Every-where does the spring declare, in the expres. sive language of truth, the decay of life and the un. certainty of time. We now see the trees in the pride of verdure, adorned with their beautiful blossoms; but in a few days, these will be no more. tender flowers, whose beautiful forms diversify nature, will perish in the same season that gives them birth. Like these, the period of human life is short, and its longest duration may be compared to a day of spring. Death suddenly closes our eyes in night, even when the crimson tide of health promised us the succession of many years. Often the canker-worm of disease is secretly gnawing the heart, whilst the countenance yet beams the lustre of health and the radiance of youth. Yet, though the charms of youth are blasted, as the glory of the valleys is sometimes darkened by the north wind, or as certainly as the pride of the garden fades; though we fall like the rose which blooms to-day, and to-morrow withereth; let us not repine nor mourn at our fate; but let us enjoy all the charms of spring, and the blessings of life, which the Creator has graciously bestowed upon us. The thoughts of death can never destroy the pleasure of the virtuous, nor lessen the delight of innocence and the enjoyment of purity. Far from filling the mind with dismay, and rendering gloomy the heart, the certainty of death teaches us the insignificance of all terrestrial objects, and leads us to repose upon the Supreme Being, in the hope of quitting a world where every thing is perish. able, for the regions of eternal glory and endless felicity. MAY XXV. Spring emblematical of the Resurrection of the Body. MOST of the flowers which we now admire, and which so beautify the earth, were lately rough and shapeless roots. This may present us with a beautiful emblem of the resurrection of the righteous, and the re-animated state of their bodies. As the roots of the most exquisite flowers, while buried in the earth, are destitute of form and beauty, but when in bloom have a thousand charms-so the human body, which in the precincts of the tomb is the object of horror and aversion, in the day of resurrection will experience a most astonishing change; "for what is sown in corruption is raised in incorruption; what is sown in dishonour is raised in glory." As soon as the first mild days of spring appear, life and joy succeed the melancholy impressions excited by the rigours of the winter; and cause the chilling blasts to be forgotten. So will man in the great day of resurrection forget all his troubles, and no longer remember with pain the afflic tions of his past life. Whilst in this state of exist. ence, anxiety lowers on our brow, and our countenance often expresses the language of sorrow; but soon as the cheering rays of a new creation shall enlighten our souls, grief will be no more; no clouds will obscure the serenity of our days, and a heavenly joy will gild all our moments. Spring is the joyful season when the earth under. goes a general renovation; if in the winter it seemed dull and lifeless, it now appears altogether gay and attractive. Every object delights us, and we seem each spring to enjoy the pleasing variety of a new world. So also on the day of resurrection will the just man be transported into a new and delightful region. The new heaven and the new earth will be Attractive Power of Bodies. 281free from all the evils which now so often trouble us; peace, order, beauty, and justice, will render our fu ture abode more happy than the most ardent imagina. tion can conceive to be possible. When the heat of the sun's rays has penetrated the earth, thousands of plants and flowers rise up out of its bosom. So will it be on the great day, when thousands of generations shall arise from the dust in which they have been buried. As the flowers of spring come forth from their seed decked in beauty and splendour, so the bodies of the righteous which have been deposited in the earth shall one day arise, encompassed with glory and arrayed in beauty. Spring is the epoch of vegetation for grass, flowers, and every species of plants; it is then that every thing which has pushed above the surface of the earth developes itself more and more every day, and visibly increases its strength and beauty and the day of the resurrection shall be to the soul of the Christian the epoch of the boundless progress he will make in all good; no weakness will detain, no obstacle impede him on his way in the path of perfection; he will proceed from virtue to virtue, and from felicity to felicity. In spring all nature seems to arise as from a state of sleep to praise its Author: the notes of all the inhabitants of the air swell in one universal hymn to glorify the Being who formed them; and, in the joyful hour of resurrection, similar songs shall ascend from the children of God, who have received new life and immortality. : MAY XXVI. Attractive Power of Bodies. We often see two bodies approach each other without being impelled by any external force. The cause |